Stretch of Decatur Township road turning mailboxes into mincemeat

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – A road bend in Decatur Township is turning mailboxes into shredded remains, as cars continue to smash onto people’s properties. The bizarre, almost “Bermuda Triangle” like road hits on Old Mill Drive near Dryden Drive.

“It’s just like a hurricane. You don’t know the eye of it, you don’t know when it’s going to hit, but you’re expecting it,” Sheila Garmon said of her neighborhood’s issue. “Just like in Florida, you expect hurricane season, it’s mailbox season.”

Garmon has replaced her mailbox 10 times over the course of 14 years, and she will be doing it again soon. Roughly three weeks ago, she said two cars nearly hit head-on in front of her home. One driver told her, the car in front of her had fishtailed.

“She said she swerved over in order to divert a head-on collision,” Garmon said. “[Her] vehicle was lying on top of the mailbox.”

Garmon is not alone. One neighbor said his box has been hit six times, while another has replaced hers three times. They said drivers fly down the hill near their homes, and once they hit the bend trouble arises, especially in winter weather.

“When they come around there they lose it. They don’t realize how sharp the turn is, and they see the mailbox and say, ‘Oh no,’ and then panic, and hit it, or move on,” Garmon said.

Her neighbor at the bottom of the hill said after 7 p.m. the stop sign that comes at the bottom of the hill seemingly becomes optional in the mind of drivers. He said countless cars just drive through it. While out filming, our cameras captured one person in the act.

“My nephew even came up, and put up a cinder block to prop one up, and the lady hit that, got it stuck in the car. [It] stopped her in the driveway,” Garmon said.

Other neighbors are beefing up their mailboxes as well. A few doors down from Garmon, a neighbor has screwed a metal tub to the base of his mailbox. Inside is a large cinder block surrounded in soil.

“Sometimes they’ll offer to come back, and most of the time they don’t. It’s a hit and run,” Garmon described. “It’s been costly. I would say probably around $400-500.”

Garmon has to get her mail from the post office until the ground thaws enough to put up a new mailbox. She warns drivers to slow down, and said neighbors will only continue to fortify their boxes.